maschinenbau (I live here) said:Better pictures as promised! This car made my commute too much fun.
maschinenbau (I live here) said:Better pictures as promised! This car made my commute too much fun.
Very Nice!!!
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:Pete. (l33t FS) said:It's not for cost containment, it's for best practices, so someone doesn't show up with painted Reynolds Wrap calling it a hardtop.
What's the reasoning behind requiring a hard top in the first place?
Rollover protection and keeping flailing fleshy bits inside the car.
You also must keep any windows up where there is an occupant, convertible hardtops must retain its original rear window.
You're allowed to run window nets or arm restraints, but personally I'd rather not see that, since an open window wouldn't prevent/delay something from entering the cabin during a rollover, and window net installation is dubious at best. All it takes is for someone to take a cone to the neck during a rollover for a bad day to start.
And yes it is kind of ironic that autocross has way more rollovers, WAY more rollovers, and they are allowed to run with their windows down.
Very nice. That blue really pops in the light. And a really good score getting the System One exhaust with the car. I've heard good things about them and they are more than $1,000 to buy new.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:And yes it is kind of ironic that autocross has way more rollovers, WAY more rollovers, and they are allowed to run with their windows down.
Is that "way more" just in absolute terms, or in percentage of runs? Because while there may be WAY more autox rollovers, there are WAY WAY more autox runs. :)
And then of course road racing rules *require* that windows be down.
Can you run window nets and arm restraints in a convertible instead of a factory hardtop?
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:Pete. (l33t FS) said:And yes it is kind of ironic that autocross has way more rollovers, WAY more rollovers, and they are allowed to run with their windows down.
Is that "way more" just in absolute terms, or in percentage of runs? Because while there may be WAY more autox rollovers, there are WAY WAY more autox runs. :)
And then of course road racing rules *require* that windows be down.
Can you run window nets and arm restraints in a convertible instead of a factory hardtop?
Aftermarket top is allowed with cage/rollbar now I believe. No top with cage was proposed and voted down by the membership.
There's a few things different between autocross and rallycross. Mainly the surface. Rallycross is much more likely to be a soft surface where something with a small surface area (ie a single bar versus a full roof panel) could dig into the ground which causes a lot of issues. Also there's much more likely to be debris/rocks/other obstacles to get into the cabin and cause issues if the car can't roll over them. And while autocross may have more rollovers per capita (citation needed but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case) in autocross it's simple physics and the victims are almost universally high CG cars which generally have rollover protection. I'm not saying it's not possible, but you'd have to work seriously hard to roll most convertibles in an autocross setting. And on a hard surface the factory installed rollover hoops are much more functional than on dirt where they'd be likely to sink into the ground and basically act as if they weren't there. Rallycross tends to be more "freak" occourences involving catching an edge or rut in a bad way and catapulting the car over, which makes it more prone to happening to just about any car. Hence the approximately equal rollover protection requirements across all cars.
As for the number of rollovers I have no idea about overall numbers, but cherry-picking some data points...IIRC there were two at last year's rallycross nationals alone, and I believe only one across all of last season's national level autocross events.
Any ND/Fiata owners know what this thing is? It was in the trunk and I can't figure it out.
In reply to maschinenbau (I live here) :
It's a handle for pushing it home, comes with every Fiat.
maschinenbau (I live here) said:Any ND/Fiata owners know what this thing is? It was in the trunk and I can't figure it out.
Cool breeze scoop.
https://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/61-1994.html
Congratulations! It's very pretty. Hopefully you can track down the PO. Sounds like a car guy!
You might reach out to good-win. They know who they sold these mufflers to...in Georgia. Then, further narrowed down to who bought The Cool Breeze also.
Really, a roof scoop for air in a convertible? lol. I guess I can't knock it til I try it in 95 degree Atlanta summer.
I got to peak at the title before they sent it to finance jail, so I think I can find the PO, but also don't want to be weird about it. "Hey so you don't know me, but would you happen to have FIAT parts in your shed. Just wondering."
Not long ago, this car was someone's pride and joy. Keep the tone more like your continuing the good care and less like, *I'm berking your ex wife. "
In reply to dps214 :
I am sure that the incidence of rolls or near-rolls like this Saturn has been reduced greatly now that the super gummy tires have been removed from Stock.
At least, I thought they were removed?
Correct, unfortunately econoboxes have been getting taller with more upright seating positions and autocross street tires are getting grippier, so that sort of thing is making something of a comeback. There's actually a thread going right now on an autocross forum I'm on about how the fiesta st and fiat 500 abarth should probably be banned from street classes. As an st owner...I don't disagree.
John Welsh said:Not long ago, this car was someone's pride and joy. Keep the tone more like your continuing the good care and less like, *I'm berking your ex wife. "
I tracked down the PO of my 2012 X5 diesel. Mainly to see if he had any records (he didn't - not a car guy). He was surprised but not offended. He traded it in at a Ford dealer, which is where I found it.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:In reply to dps214 :
I am sure that the incidence of rolls or near-rolls like this Saturn has been reduced greatly now that the super gummy tires have been removed from Stock.
At least, I thought they were removed?
Huh, I never thought it could be that much of an issue - I stand corrected.
Oh, and congrats and cool on the Fiata - there was a guy around with a red Abarth one (I thought? They came with the black hood? Or am I all wet?) lowered with neat wheels, car was SO bitchin.
If you can find some, silver wheels on that car would be the bomb. The right bronze wheels would probably look good too...
Sorry, trying to mod your car for you, I'll stop now...
OldGray320i (Forum Supporter) said:Huh, I never thought it could be that much of an issue - I stand corrected.
E30s in particular were somewhat notorious for doing this with stock springs and super grippy tires.
In reply to OldGray320i (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks! It's not heavily modded, and may never be, but it DOES have one bitchin' exhaust system. Makes all the right noises, including a few pops and burbles. It's way rowdier than I expected a nearly factory Miata could be.
I'll have to collect my thoughts into a review eventually, but so far it's a great commuter. After fine tuning the seats for a couple days, I fit much better in it than originally thought. I can't keep from flooring it, and still averaging 30 MPG.
This car has 10x the emotion of my Saturn. Maybe 100x.
aircooled said:My wife had a NC for a number of years. We even used it for trips / vacations (more room than you think, you do need to pack carefully).
My concern would be the same as above. Being seen can be an issue in the car. Looking, eye height, as SUV bumpers is a bit concerning. Looking, eye height, at SUV headlights is also a bit irritating.
I have a bright competition yellow NC and still got hit. Nevertheless, it's my favorite car (and I added a flasher for the raised brake light to add visibility). I also pretty much always drive with lights on.
I love this car. My only regret is that I didn't switch to DD'ing a Miata 10 years sooner. I've already put almost 1500 happy miles on it. I mean just look at that face!
Our first autocross together was this past weekend in CS with all the local hotshoe's and their competitively prepped ND2's. Even after 10 runs of seat time at Saturday's test-and-tune, I may need some upgrades if I want to keep up. But I'm not even sure I want to keep up, and spend the big $$ to do so. I need to do some soul-searching, but here's where I'm at:
Anyway. Those are my options, and probably nothing will happen for a while. Except maybe alignment. I might start a build thread if I start buying parts, but don't count on it. It's a daily driver...not a project car...don't turn into a project...please... Maybe an ownership log build thread?
Also, I was only a 1/2 sec behind my buddy's C5 on 200TW. Somehow after almost 20 years of friendship, we both end up daily driving blue convertibles. We drove each other's cars and they are VERY different experiences! The Vette is a friggin hammer, it encourages you to just beat those turns into submission, while the Fiat prefers you dance to the rhythm of the music. Or something. Idk. I'm not a good driver and this was fun!
maschinenbau (I live here) said:I love this car. My only regret is that I didn't switch to DD'ing a Miata 10 years sooner.
......... the Fiat prefers you dance to the rhythm of the music. Or something. Idk. I'm not a good driver and this was fun!
I absolutely *love* the dance that the Fiat / Miata delivers. *so* much fun!!
I'm going by 2 year old memory, but I think the non-Abarth Fiats may have softer springs/shocks and a stiffer roll bar than the ND. Using someone's take-off ND bits could be a budget/good ride quality option to make a small handling improvement.
It sounds like you're just looking to have fun, but I'll also mention that the Classica wheels are 6.5" wide.
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